Preparing for Christmas

Preparing for Christmas: Saint Mary’s celebrates with Lessons and Carols

On Sunday students, faculty, staff, and members of the community joined their voices in song for Lessons and Carols, an annual Christmas celebration presented at the Church of Loretto. The program included readings, reflections, songs, and a whole lot of Christmas cheer.

Throughout the service, readings were presented to encourage reflection on the Advent season. After each lesson, the choir, comprised of Saint Mary’s Women’s Choir, the Collegiate Choir, and the Liturgical Choir, as well as the Loretto Choir, performed a Christmas song.

Instrumentalists and liturgical dancers perform as well. “After each lesson, a Christmas song is sung. Some are sung by the choirs and others involve the entire congregation,” explains Christine Hendershot '12. “It is an event that not only celebrates Christmas with joy and song, but one that also allows everyone present to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. Christine’s favorite part of Lessons and Carols happens when all of the choirs circle the church with candles to sing “Night of Silence,” her favorite Christmas song.

Christine is a nursing major and music minor. She sings in both the Saint Mary’s College Women’s Choir and the Liturgical Choir. “So I spend a lot of time rehearsing with the choirs for Lessons and Carols,” she says. “It is a time when all of the choirs here on campus come together, and the service has a variety of different types of music. It is a pleasure both to sing and to hear such beautiful music and also to gather with members of the community.”

Last year, Christine accompanied the Women’s Choir on its tour to Fort Wayne, Ind., Ann Arbor, Mich., Toledo, Ohio, and Toronto, Canada. “It was a great opportunity to sing with the choir and also to get to know all of my fellow choir members a little better,” she says.